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Product Description
A colossal natural history piece showing some of the exotic life-forms that lived on our planet almost a half a billion years ago, this enormous specimen demonstrates the deadly events in past history where large numbers of creatures died at the hands of a brutal environment. This ULTRA-RARE massive slab of 26 complete and partial large Asaphus trilobites is indeed, a show-stopping specimen. This is a NATURALLY OCCURRING mass death assemblage of these trilobites on their original matrix, prepared to expose fossils in their original pose as when buried. Unlike many Moroccan multiple trilobite fossils where the trilobites are artificially assembled on matrix, this remarkable specimen is 100% natural with all trilobites found together as shown in their natural positions. The topic of MASS EXTINCTION is always a fascinating subject and our Earth's prehistory is filled with many tragic events with evidence of fossils like this specimen to demonstrate the sobering effects of such an apocalyptic occurrence.
After weeks of meticulous preparation in our lab, we are proud to present such an impressive museum display specimen as this. None of the trilobites possess any fabrication or restoration. There are only fractures and saw lines from the original excavation, that have been filled. The slab has been reinforced on the back side with steel bars and fiberglass epoxy embedded in the original stone matrix that the trilobites are on. This amazing grouping of very large Asaphus trilobites shows spectacular qualities of both complete and incomplete creatures - 26 in all! Some cataclysmic event was responsible for the sudden death and burial of this ALL NATURAL assemblage of trilobites. The photos do not really demonstrate the extremely high relief and detail of this specimen. It resembles an interstate pile-up of automobiles with numerous trilobites overlapping one another in a scattered array. Many of these Asaphus trilobites display some of the best preservation and detail we have ever seen.
The photos exaggerate the roughness of the trilobites and the very high inflation of the trilobites is not easily seen in these images compared to experiencing it in person. This is one of our most visually impressive trilobite fossils we have ever offered. Unlike many large composite Moroccan trilobite fossils, this is an extraordinarily large example that can boast of all trilobites on the slab being originally found as they are shown.
If you are looking for that one supreme, MUSEUM-CLASS, large display specimen for public exhibition or a private setting, this piece is definitely one of your best candidates. It's the type of fossil that viewers will never forget. It has great value in attracting publicity but it also is a highly educational specimen, showing both, some of the exotic life-forms that lived on our planet almost a half a billion years ago and, demonstrating deadly events in past history where large numbers of creatures died at the hands of a brutal environment. Laws in Morocco have changed now and are forbidding the export of natural specimens such as this so the possibility of acquiring a piece like this in the future is discouraging.
Asaphus is a genus of trilobites, that is known from the Lower and Middle Ordovician Period. Trilobites are a fossil group of extinct marine arthropods that form one of the earliest known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period (521 million years ago), and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before beginning a drawn-out decline to extinction when, during the Devonian, all trilobite orders except the Proetids died out. Trilobites disappeared in the mass extinction at the end of the Permian about 252 million years ago. Trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, roaming the oceans for over 270 million years.
By the time trilobites first appeared in the fossil record, they were already highly diversified and geographically dispersed. Because trilobites had wide diversity and an easily fossilized exoskeleton, they left an extensive fossil record, with some 17,000 known species spanning Paleozoic time. The study of these fossils has facilitated important contributions to biostratigraphy, paleontology, evolutionary biology, and plate tectonics.